Small Protest Outside ‘NY Times’ Targets Bank Records Story

At a rally outside the offices of The New York Times Monday night, about 100 protesters called on federal officials to prosecute the paper for its recent publication of government security secrets, The New York Sun reported.

Headed by a radio talk show host and Caucus for America president, Rabbi Aryeh Spero, the group gathered to oppose the Times’ decision to publish “national security secrets relating to our government’s financial monitoring programs to track down terrorists,” The Sun reported.

The complaints stem from the June 23 Times story about the secret Swift bank records program, which revealed the U.S. Treasury Department had been monitoring bank accounts in an effort to track financial activities of terrorists.

Rabbi Spero said that publishing the secrets was an act of “treason and betrayal that put the public safety of the country in jeopardy,” the Sun reported.

Protesters carried signs displaying angry messages, such as “Osama’s Favorite Paper,” the Sun reported, adding that men dressed as Osama bin Laden held copies of the newspaper and signs declaring, “I Love the New York Times” and “It Makes Me Feel Like I’m In the Know!”